The Life of an Assassin
by Simply Rexene
Summary: When Roxas comes home to find that his boyfriend has left him, he feels more alone than ever. But when his new roommate charges into his life, he begins to wonder if things could change. If maybe he doesn't have to be so alone. Of course... when you're a trained assassin, nothing is quite that simple. Will his secrets shut someone else out of his life?
1. Alone

**Chapter One**

 _Alone_

 _Roxas-_

 _I wish that I could say I was strong enough to put up with all the bullshit secrets and lies, but I just can't do this anymore. I left my half of this month's rent in an envelope for you. Oh, and I took the cat and my flatscreen. They were mine to begin with. Uh… good luck? Please don't try to contact me anymore. If I left anything else behind, just keep it or trash it._

 _-Van_

Roxas staggered back a couple of steps and slumped against the arm of the couch, the wrinkled scrap of paper balling up in his fist. Anger shook through his body as he fought back the urge to just scream at the top of his lungs and break something.

The moment he walked in the door, he'd known something was off. It no longer felt like home. Van's signature black leather jacket was gone from the hook. There were no longer piles of Converse and boots to trip over in the entryway. The house even smelled different; Van's cologne no longer assaulted his senses the moment he walked in, and the distinct smell of 'cat' was all but completely gone.

When he rounded the corner into the living room, his first reaction to the bare white wall in front of him was that they'd been robbed. The 60" Smart TV was gone, and even the wall mount it hung on was missing. The only hint that it had ever been there in the first place was the ever so slight difference in the paint color where it had faded around the television from years of sunlight beaming in from the balcony.

He'd already had the 9-1-1 dialed into his phone when his eyes settled on the crumpled slip of paper sitting on the coffee table next to an envelope. Roxas had been away for three days on a work trip, and apparently that had been all Vanitas needed to pack up all of his stuff and get out. Had he just been waiting around for the opportunity to leave? To sneak away so he wouldn't even have to face the man whose heart he was breaking?

"Coward…" Roxas muttered to himself, flinging the note at the empty space on the wall. His eyes settled on the envelope and he leaned forward to pick it up, rifling through all of the cash to make sure it would be enough to cover half the rent. There was no way in hell he could afford the house by himself.

Setting the envelope back on the coffee table, he pushed his weight forward and began to pace back and forth like a caged animal. Rage was still bubbling deep inside him, and he was sure that he had to have been eight shades of red by then.

"Maybe… maybe it's a joke. Maybe he isn't really gone." Denial began to eat at him, so he headed upstairs to the bedroom they'd shared. The sheets were still rumpled from the night before, and it was only then that the spicy, heavenly scent of Van's cologne finally touched his nose.

But the closet was void of all of Van's belongings, and the bathroom was almost barren looking without his vast collection of hair products. He'd even taken most of the towels and the shower curtain, which seemed like a petty thing to repossess in a break up. Van was most likely moving back in with his mom anyways, so did he really need to take them?

A trip into the spare room, which Van had been using as a home office, only further confirmed his permanent absence. It was completely cleared out, as if it had never even been utilized before.

Rage was beginning to subside into sorrow as Roxas made his way downstairs and collapsed on the couch. His first instinct was to tune out the world until he calmed down, but when he reached for the remote in it's usual place, he found himself grabbing at air. A glance up at the bare wall was a reminder that he could no longer do that. A low growl sounded from his throat when he realized he wasn't getting paid for his last job until next week.

"Fuck!" he exclaimed, shooting into an upright position on the couch and causing a couple of pillows to topple onto the floor. Television was the only thing he had to relax with after work. …Especially now that Vanitas was gone. Hell, his Playstation was just sitting on it's shelf, cables all detached and tangled up on top of it. He couldn't even take out his frustrations on video game villains!

His eyes found themselves settling back on that envelope. The one sitting there, right in front of him, full of cash.

"I can't…" Apparently talking to himself was the only thing keeping him sane at the moment. "I really shouldn't…"

Fifteen minutes later he found himself in the parking lot of Best Buy, the envelope of cash shoved haphazardly into his hoodie pocket. "Don't do it. You don't need it." That mantra had followed him all the way from home. But it wasn't enough to stop his legs from taking him through the door and turning towards the TV section.

"Hello Sir, and welcome to Best Buy! Can I help you find anything today?"

The only thing that stopped him from ripping the associate's head off was the fact that it was a petite teenage girl with a bright, slightly obnoxious smile on her face.

"I need a TV."

"Perfect! Were you looking for a standard television, or a Smart TV?"

That was when his eye caught sight of a gloriously large, ridiculously expensive looking flatscreen hanging on the wall, outshining every other device on their display. 65 inches, 4k Ultra HD, Roku included… it was perfect. It was the television Roxas had always dreamed of. He took a step towards it, gawking at the crisp, perfect picture. "How much is this one?"

"That one is $899.99."

Roxas nearly choked on thin air. He'd never spent that much money on a TV before. In fact, before Vanitas moved in with him he was still squinting at a 22", standard definition screen that had dead pixels all over the place.

His hand tightened around the envelope in his pocket. He had $1100 on him. He could do it. But he needed that money to pay rent on the house and cover utilities. He could just buy another crap TV and fill in the rest of the wall space with artwork or something. Namine would help him redecorate for sure.

"I'll take it."

Wait, had that come out of his own mouth?

"Awesome! I'll let one of my associates know and they can get it loaded right into your car. In the meantime, I'll ring you up right over here!" The chirpiness of her voice was grating on his nerves.

 _Okay, you haven't paid yet. You can still back out of this. Just tell her that you changed your mind. She'll understand._

"Will that be cash or credit?"

Roxas shook his head as her voice brought him back to reality again. "Uh… cash."

 _You idiot! You were supposed to back out! Tell her! Tell her now!_

"All right, here's your change! Rob will be up in just a moment to help you to your car!"

He stared down at the envelope, which had considerably shrunk in side. _Damn it!_

With the amount of effort it took the two of them to shove that huge box into his car, you'd think there would have been plenty of time for him to open his mouth and tell the guy that there had been a mistake. To march right back in there and demand a refund. You'd think.

The panic attack didn't hit him until he was settled into the couch with the shiny new remote in his hand and Netflix loading up on the gargantuan screen.

"What did I do?!"

If the cat had still been living there, he would have likely gotten clawed in the back of the head for such a loud outburst. The back of the couch had always been Simba's favorite place to laze around.

"Fuck… oh fuck…" Roxas leaned forward, rubbing at his temples with his index and middle fingers. Rent was due by the end of the week, and he only had enough for his half. This last work trip had drained all of his extra cash. As if it wasn't bad enough that his partner of the past 5 years had left him, now he was going to be evicted. Unless…

He pulled his phone out of his pocket and started typing as fast as he could. On every social media outlet he could think of, he started posting:

 _In need of a roommate ASAP. First and last of your half of the rent will be required up front. Must have a steady source of income. …No cats._

Adding his contact info at the bottom of the ad, Roxas sent it off to all ends of the internet, hoping to all hell that someone would contact him soon. If he couldn't find a roommate by the end of the week, he was fucked.

After he was satisfied that he'd reached out to every possible site he could manage, Roxas laid his phone down on the glass top coffee table and promptly fell into a well deserved coma on the couch. This would work. It had to.

…

It was only a few hours later that the sound of a million wasps swarming him pulled Roxas out of his deep sleep. He woke in a panic, nearly falling off the couch as he tried to reorient himself with his surroundings. It was dark out now, and the light from the magnificent TV was quite blinding, and he couldn't for the life of him figure out what that buzzing noise was.

And then it suddenly stopped, and it was only then that he realized what it was. _Right… cell phone._

Upon inspection, it was a little after midnight and he now had four missed calls stacking up in his notifications. His heart leapt into his throat when he realizing it might be Vanitas. That he might have seen the error in his ways and he was coming home.

"Unknown number?" The dejected tone of his voice was quite pathetic.

A quick dial-back had his hopes rising again. Maybe it was Van's mom's house. Maybe he just didn't have the number saved.

"Hello?" the low, smooth voice of a man poured through the phone.

"Oh… uhm… hi? My name is Roxas. I got a bunch of missed calls from this number?" Roxas inwardly groaned as all of his hopes and dreams were dashed. He had no idea who this guy was.

There was a bit of static on the other end, like he was being switched off speakerphone. "Right! Hey! I was hoping I'd hear back from you soon. You still looking for that roommate?"

Roxas checked the time again. He'd only posted the ad about 4 hours ago. "Uh… yeah?"

"Awesome! So hey, my lease is up in like 2 days and I still haven't found a new place to live. I was gonna move in with my dad, but his place is like an hour away from my job and my mom doesn't even live in this state, but there's nowhere really renting this time of the year and-"

"Cut to the chase?" _Please? Before you talk me to death._

"Right! So your place is right down the road from my job and the rent is super reasonable for me. Can I come check it out tomorrow?"

Roxas was slightly nervous to let some strange, overly talkative guy in his house, but he reluctantly agreed. It would be a little ridiculous to have someone move in without seeing the place first. "Uh… yeah. Sure."

"Awesome! I can head over on my way in to work if that's cool?"

"That depends. What time are we talking here?" Roxas raised an eyebrow. He had tomorrow off and he wasn't intending on waking up before noon.

"Oh, it'd be around seven. Is that cool? We don't open till nine, but there's a whole lot of prep work to do, and I have to take everyone out, and then I have to-"

"That's fine. I'll see you at seven."

Roxas growled a little as he hung up the phone before this guy could get another word in. If he wasn't so desperate for the help on rent, he'd have never even humored this guy. People that bright and cheery should be quarantined. Between him and the chick from Best Buy, Roxas had just about had his fill on happy for the week.

With his mind a little more at ease knowing that he had a potential rommate lined up, Roxas switched off the TV and headed up to bed. As he pulled the covers over himself, his eyes fell on Van's pillow and tears began to well up in his eyes. He buried his nose in the fabric and inhaled deeply, allowing Van's scent to surround him and comfort him. It had been so long since he'd been alone that he wasn't sure if he knew how to do it anymore.

But who was he kidding? Even when Van was around, Roxas was always alone.

That was just the life of an assassin.


	2. K

**UPDATE:** Sorry for the formatting error I had going on! I had no idea that it had posted like that!

 **Chapter Two**

 _K._

There it was again. That nagging little buzzing that filled Roxas' dreams with images of wasps attacking or bumblebees flitting from flower to flower. A lightly tanned hand started to slap around at his bedside table, which inevitably sent his cell phone flying to the hardwood floor, where the vibrating was only amplified tenfold in volume. A low groan came from beneath a large pile of blankets as the alarm continued to wail it's morning song from it's new home under the bed.

And then the doorbell got in on it. It'd been so long since Roxas had visitors that he wasn't even sure if the doorbell worked, but there it was. Repeatedly dinging. Over. And over. And over.

"God damn it all…" The form beneath the blankets finally sat up, hissing at the cold chill in the air. Roxas had a very low amount of body fat, which meant that he spent most of his time freezing to death.

The alarm and the doorbell continued to sing their wake up call as a very disoriented blond finally pulled himself to his feet. He hooked one of them under the bed to nudge his phone into view before snatching it up and finally silencing the buzzing once and for all. Then there was just the matter of the doorbell to attend to. Part of him began to wonder why Van hadn't just answered it, but the reality of the day before came crashing back to him rather quickly.

"I'm coming, damn it!" he barked at the door as he stumbled down the stairs. He still wasn't thrilled about meeting this potential roommate. Something about his general ...positivity… was just unsettling to Roxas.

When he finally got down to the front door, he all but ripped it off it's hinges, sending it slamming into the wall and causing a couple of pictures to swing back and forth on their hooks.

"You could have just rung once. I'm not deaf." The degree at which Roxas had to crane his neck to make eye contact with this guy could have crippled him.

"Well I wanted to make sure you hadn't forgotten about me! Not really a morning person, I take it? You know, it's kinda funny, I-"

"Do you wanna see the place or not?"

The taller man huffed a little as he was cut off, but his smile didn't fade. "Sure! By the way, my name is-"

"So this is the front hall. Pretty typical. Coat hooks, shoe mat, key hook… That's pretty much it. Through here is the living room. Other side is the kitchen and the door to the basement. Got full laundry down there, not much else."

"Whoa, sweet TV!"

Roxas cringed a little as the guy admired the whole reason he was even necessary. "And then up the stairs back here are the bedrooms and the bathroom. There's only one with a shower. The one downstairs near the kitchen is a half bath. Your room would be off to the left here."

He let the guy nose around in the spare room for a bit, tapping his foot on the hardwood impatiently. "Okay, this is pretty sweet. Decent closet, nice big window…"

It was while the guy was muttering to himself that Roxas fully took in his appearance. He was wearing black hospital scrubs, the pants of which seemed just barely long enough to brush the tops of his red Converse. _Great… another Converse hoarder._ He almost wondered if the pants had to be custom made from some kind of medical supply company.

Actually, if the guy was a nurse it would be quite nice having him as a roommate. They tended to work insane hours and spend most of their time home sleeping. Though… he'd said his job was right down the street, and the nearest hospital was a few blocks over. So what was with the scrubs?

"Yo? You in there?"

Roxas blinked a few times as a thin pale hand waved around in his face. "Huh?" Apparently he'd zoned out pretty hard.

"I said I gotta get going, but I'm seriously interested in the place. Can I think on it for a couple hours and give you a call when I decide?"

"Uh… sure?" He still hadn't gotten any other replies to the ad, so it wasn't like he had a lot of other options.

"Awesome!" the potential roommate exclaimed, gripping the strap of his brown leather messenger bag. "I already have your number, so…"

He was hovering, and Roxas wasn't sure why. "Uhm… bye?"

"...Right. I'll see myself out then. Talk to you later."

Roxas watched the man glide down the stairs and disappear from view. Once he heard the door gently close, he rolled his eyes and walked right back into his bedroom. Burrowing himself under the covers, it only took him seconds to fall back asleep.

...

Roxas was actually surprised when he checked his phone around noon and he didn't have any missed calls. He was sure the guy would have made up his mind by then. It was actually beginning to worry him quite a bit, though. If Mr. Obnoxious didn't take the room, he was back to square one.

He was pouring himself a cup of coffee when the sound of multiple dogs barking outside caught his attention. As far as he knew, none of his nearby neighbors had any dogs. So what the hell was going on?

Making his way into the living room, he peered out of the front window to see none other than Mr. Obnoxious himself strolling down the sidewalk with some kind of big belt strapped around his waist that had about 8 dogs of all sizes tied to it with various leashes.

Was he a dog walker? If he was, there was probably no way he could afford the rent here. That made Roxas a bit uneasy. But then it clicked. The scrubs, the dogs, the proximity…

He worked at the Veterinary Clinic down the street. Though if he was walking the dogs, he was probably just a low level vet tech or a receptionist or something.

Roxas didn't even realize how blatantly he was staring until the man looked up and caught his eyes through the window, his face lighting up. The blond groaned lowly as the taller man began to wave like a moron for him to come outside.

Should he go back to the kitchen and ignore him? Pretend he hadn't seen? No… Maybe he'd made his decision. Knowing that he was going to be able to pay rent would definitely make Roxas' day ten times better. He needed to just suck it up and go socialize with Mr. Obnoxious again.

"Hey…" Roxas gave an awkward wave as he stepped down the front path to the sidewalk, his feet shoved into slippers and his warm mug of coffee in his hand.

"Hey! I meant to call you a while back, but we got kind of slammed up at the Clinic."

Roxas had to fend off the dogs as they all tried to maul him at once, using his forearm as a blockade and backing far enough away that they couldn't reach him without tearing the guy's torso in half. "I can see that. I kind of guessed you worked at the Vet."

"Yeah! I love it. I try to get these guys out and about at least once a day to keep their spirits up. Healing or not, they don't need to be cooped up in a kennel all day."

Roxas grimaced a little. Who would willingly strap eight sick dogs to themself? "So… did you make a decision?"

"Right! I did! I'd love the room if it's still available. Not that I have much choice anyways… I'm completely out of options. I really don't know why I didnt just tell you this morning. I guess I was trying to pretend I wasn't totally screwed. Although I did look-"

"Great. Stop by after work when you don't have your, uh… _crew_ with you. I'll need first and last, and we'll need to call my landlord and have you added to the lease."

With that, Roxas turned on his heel and promptly headed back into the house.

He had just settled in to watch some Netflix and enjoy his day off when his _other_ cell phone rang. The one he kept on him at all times. "Agent 8-1-3."

"Report to Headquarters at 1400 hours for a debriefing on your last mission."

The blond let out a little huff of distaste. "I wasn't informed that I'd need to be debriefed."

"And we did not expect you to find the information you did in Miyaki's hotel room. 1400 hours, 813."

Roxas hung up and glanced at the time. His day of relaxation was going to come to a quick end. He could get in maybe one episode before he had to change into his all-black suit and head in to the office. He was so sick of running these stupid side missions for the organization.

He'd been sent to take out a low level cog in some crime boss' gang and accidentally stumbled into a plethora of information about who they were dealing with and who they were targeting next. He knew exactly why he was being debriefed; they didn't want him to go rogue and try to take out the rest of the gang or anybody they were dealing with himself. Not that they really had anything to worry about. Roxas wasn't nearly stupid enough to try something like that. That seemed more like something Xigbar would try to do. Or Larxene. She was always trying to fuck someone up.

But Roxas? Nah… pulling a stunt like that would require him caring enough about it, and he honestly just didn't give a fuck. He followed his orders, and that was that.

...

"Goddd… I swear, Saix kills people by boring them to death," Roxas slumped into his desk chair at Headquarters, loosening his black tie and gazing up at the flourescent lights hanging high above them.

Luxord chuckled from the next desk over. "Yeah, he sure knows how to turn an hour into a century."

"Has it seriously been an hour already? Jesus, this was supposed to be my day off…"

"You of all people should know, 813… We're never truly off the clock," the older blond reminded him. "Especially those of us at the bottom of the food chain, such as yourself."

Roxas sneered. "Are they ever going to give me any decent missions? My last five kills were so easy I could have finished the list off in an hour. All that planning, all that sneaking… Nobody ever even puts up a fight."

"Uh, you realize that means you're good at your job, right? We're supposed to be stealthy. In and out, no fighting, no witnesses. You're one of our best new recruits."

"Then why does it feel like none of it matters? Yippee, I took a handful of men. There are _hundreds_ of people working for Setzu. Maybe thousands!"

"Yeah, but you uncovered a fuckload of information that we never would have found had you not taken them out," Luxord shrugged, leaning back in his chair and fidgeting with a pen.

The young man exhaled slowly and shook his head. "I don't know, man… This job has already ruined my personal life. I'm not sure if I have it in me to keep going."

"I know it doesn't mean much coming from me, but give it some time. You've shown massive amounts of promise from the day you started training. I think Xemnas has big plans for you someday. You just need to give it time. You're young, hardly 25 years old. Get through the shitty part and I promise you, it'll get better. It took me nearly 10 years working here to get promoted out of the dregs."

"Wow, Luxord, you really know how to give an inspiring speech," Roxas muttered sarcastically, rolling his eyes. He scowled as he felt his personal phone buzzing in his pocket yet again.

 _Hey, where are you? I have the check, but the door is locked and I didn't see your car._

Right. Mr. Obnoxious was supposed to come over when he was done with work.

 _Gimme about 20 minutes. Got called in to work briefly._

 _Sounds good. I'll, uh… sit here on the porch I guess._

 _K._


End file.
